Affiliation:
1. School of Materials Science and Engineering Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University Hangzhou 310018 China
2. Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering the Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong 999077 China
3. Institute of Optoelectronics State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology Shanghai Frontiers Science Research Base of Intelligent Optoelectronics and Perception Fudan University Shanghai 200433 China
4. Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Química Física Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional University of Barcelona (UB) Barcelona 08028 Spain
5. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) Pg. Lluís Companys 23 Barcelona 08010 Spain
6. Multi‐Scale Robotics Lab Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems ETH Zürich Tannenstrasse 3 Zürich CH‐8092 Switzerland
Abstract
AbstractIn the past decade, micro‐ and nanomachines (MNMs) have made outstanding achievements in the fields of targeted drug delivery, tumor therapy, microsurgery, biological detection, and environmental monitoring and remediation. Researchers have made significant efforts to accelerate the rapid development of MNMs capable of moving through fluids by means of different energy sources (chemical reactions, ultrasound, light, electricity, magnetism, heat, or their combinations). However, the motion of MNMs is primarily investigated in confined two‐dimensional (2D) horizontal setups. Furthermore, three‐dimensional (3D) motion control remains challenging, especially for vertical movement and control, significantly limiting its potential applications in cargo transportation, environmental remediation, and biotherapy. Hence, an urgent need is to develop MNMs that can overcome self‐gravity and controllably move in 3D spaces. This review delves into the latest progress made in MNMs with 3D motion capabilities under different manipulation approaches, discusses the underlying motion mechanisms, explores potential design concepts inspired by nature for controllable 3D motion in MNMs, and presents the available 3D observation and tracking systems.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
European Research Council
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,General Materials Science